The lack of production on offense plagued the Ball State University field hockey team once again as they opened conference play Wednesday with a 7-1 loss at Miami University.
The loss makes for the fourth in a row for Ball State after starting out the season with back-to-back wins against Davidson College and Appalachian State University. The Cardinals are now 2-4 (0-1 Mid-American Conference), while the RedHawks (2-4) hold a 2-0 record in MAC play.
Coach Annette Payne didn't have much to say to her team after their performance Wednesday night.
"We didn't play well today," Payne said. "We didn't do what we needed to do."
RedHawks junior forward Kate Snyder took no time putting it to the Cardinals - five minutes into the contest she opened scoring with a goal from Miami, thanks to a pass from a penalty corner.
Snyder continued her scoring frenzy with two more goals at the 17:20 and 21:26 marks, giving her a hat trick within the first period alone from assists from Miami's Mary Hull and Katie Brightwell, making the score 3-0 twenty minutes into the affair.
Payne said although she credits the amount of goals scored against them to Miami's offense, the defense did not play well under the RedHawks' pressure.
"We didn't respond defensively," Payne said.
The scoring after the three consecutive goals from Snyder did not stop for Miami as the defense of Ball State gave up another goal at the 33:33 mark from an unassisted shot by Miami's Maggie Marcum.
Ball State sophomore midfielder Devanny Kuhn ended the streak of goals for Miami with a goal of her own - her first of the season - right before the end of the first period, making the score 4-1 going into halftime.
By the end of the first half, Ball State trailed two shots to Miami's 13.
"We felt that we were there at the half," junior forward Hannah Jones said. "But we didn't respond well finishing and getting our goals.
"We didn't have control of the game - when we lost control of the game, we couldn't gain it back. We didn't have the mentality to get it back."
Even with a large deficit going into the half the Cardinals still felt that they could climb back into the game.
"We wanted to fight back, but we didn't work together as a team and we weren't able to get the ball into the cage," Jones said. "We could have held our own, [but] we didn't play Ball State hockey the whole time."
Miami had no problem picking up where they left off in the first half by scoring two more goals in the first 16 minutes of second half play, making the score 6-1.
"We could have held our own," Jones said. "We are a better team than that."
The RedHawks capped off the conference matchup with forward Mary Hull's second goal of the game at the 61st minute, making the score 7-1.
"We need to take this loss to heart," sophomore forward Brittany Hammer said. "Were not a 7-1 [losing] team and we know we can do better. We had our opportunities that we needed to capitalize on and we didn't."
Hammer said each player takes something from each game and tries to learn from it to improve the team for the next game.
"We'll deal with it at practice this week," Hammer said. "We'll learn so we can come out stronger on Saturday against Indiana [University]."
Payne said the lack of offense was not all blamed on the team's lack of effort offensively.
"[Miami's] defense had good speed and was aggressive," Payne said. "They were the first to win the ball and that's how they play, that's their style."
Senior Tiffany Shifflett matched her season high with nine saves in the game bringing her to 35 saves so far this season.
"I think the players need to make their own choices and pick what they want to learn from the game today," Payne said.
Ball State plays Indiana University at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
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